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Midnight Rogue (book)
Midnight Rogue is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Graeme Davis, illustrated by John Sibbick and originally published in 1987 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 29th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-032378-3). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the modern Wizard series. Creation Background Midnight Rogue is set in Port Blacksand from City of Thieves and casts the player as a somewhat unheroic character — an apprentice thief undergoing the test for Guild membership. The task is to steal a valuable gem, the "Eye of the Basilisk", from a merchant named Brass. The adventure involves burgling a variety of locations in the city to gain clues as its whereabouts: once found, the protections put in place to guard the gem turn out to be an even greater test. Introduction The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. (see Game System) Unique Rules *The player can not carry more than six items at a time in their backpack, with the Provisons counting as one item. Together with the Potion and the other equipment this means that at the start the player has no spaces available. *The book allows the player a choice of three from various special skills taught by the Thieves' Guild: some of these may also be acquired later in the adventure by the collection of useful items. The choices are: Climb, Hide, Pick Lock, Pick Pocket, Secret Signs, Sneak, and Spot Hidden. Equipment List *Shortsword *Leather Jerkin and leggings *Backpack *Hand-lamp *Torch *Tinder-box *5 Gold Pieces *10 Provisions *Choice of one of three Potions (see Game System for generic fantasy setting choices) Cover and Illustrations '''Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by John Sibbick. #Price of 1st Impression Illustrations The interior illustrations were by John Sibbick. There were 30 full page illustrations and 6 minor repeated illustrations (4 of which represent skills the player can choose from) scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 13, 26, 45, 60, 74, 90, 104, 120, 134, 150, 156, 165, 178, 209, 219, 225, 238, 254, 261, 271, 280, 301, 316, 328, 344, 360, 375, 388 and 400. The colour map on the inside front cover was by Steve Luxton. Intertextual References The story introduces various characters who appeared in later Fighting Fantasy books. The merchant Brass, the clairvoyant Madame Star and the Thieves' Guild leader Rannik all appear in the sample adventure from the Advanced Fighting Fantasy book Blacksand!, in which a player may take part as a character from Midnight Rogue. Other Media Main Characters YOU: Hero of Midnight Rogue *Bald Morri - Landlord of The Rat and Ferret *Bargo the Wheeler *Brass - Merchant *Captain Marlin *Madame Star *Rannik - Guildmaster *Silas Whitebait Locations *Barrow Hill *Bridge Street *Catfish River *Clock Street *Executioner's Square *Field Gate *Field Street *Fish Market *Gallows Street *Harbour Street *Key Street *Lobster Wharf *Lord Azzur's Palace *Main Gate *Market Square *Market Street *Merchant's Guild *Palace Square *Port Blacksand *''The Rat and Ferret'' *Short Street *Singing Bridge *Stable Street *Street of Knives *Temple Street *The Noose *Thieves' Guild *Tower Street *Wall Street Encounters *Animated Corpse *Bats *Chest Creature *Crystal Warriors *Dog *Gargoyles *Ghouls *Giant Spider *Humans - Footpads/Guards/Guardsmen/Servants/Thugs *Jib-Jib *Orges *Piranha *Poltergeists *Possessor Spirit *Scitalis *Shapechangers *Skeletons - Lord/Regular *Tangleweed *Unseen Monster *Wood Golems Further Notes *This was the first book in the series to have a cover depicting YOU.Titan Rebuilding FF29 Midnight Rogue added to the databases *A number of errors are evident on the cover including: :*the Eye of the Basilisk is red on the cover but actually yellow in the book :*the Gargoyles (only one of whom is alive) are guarding the Merchants' Guild, whereas the cover has them guarding the Eye of the Basilisk :*the actual chamber with the Eye of the Basilisk is at the dungeon complex of Barrow Hill, not within Port Blacksand as depicted on the cover *''Midnight Rogue'' features a number of "fake" entries intended to discourage cheating (260 & 275 for example). These entries could not be accessed by anyone playing through the book fairly, and chided the reader for cheating. This attitude towards cheaters may explain the inconsistencies between the text and the book's misleading cover, since part of the gamebook revolves around establishing the location of the jewel. Dedication none See Also *''Fighting Fantasy'' *''Rogue Mage'' External Links *Character Sheet References * * * Midnight Rogue 29